


Living There Still

by Healy



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Books, Episode: s02e20 Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls, Family, Ficlet, Fluff, Gen, Reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 19:42:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14315808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Healy/pseuds/Healy
Summary: As he read, Ford noticed how attentively Dipper and Mabel listened to him. They were too old for bedtime stories now; nobody would blame them for wanting to do something else. But they hung on his every word, only speaking up when it was time to request a new story. Maybe they were too tired to complain, or maybe they just needed the reassurance of a friendly voice. It had been a long day, after all.In which Ford bonds with his family through reading.





	Living There Still

Dipper and Mabel snuggled under the covers as Ford read to them. “ _Once upon a time_...”

It had only been a day since Weirdmageddon had ended; everyone had been busy with fixing up the Shack and regaining Stan’s memories, and they were in need of a good rest. The TV was still out, so Ford dug out a book of fairy tales that he found in a closet and started reading.

“ _Little Red Riding Hood looked out into the forest and saw, oh! So many pretty wildflowers growing there. ‘Surely Grandmother wouldn’t mind if I picked a few for her,’ she thought to herself._ ” As he read, Ford noticed how attentively Dipper and Mabel listened to him. They were too old for bedtime stories now; nobody would blame them for wanting to do something else. But they hung on his every word, only speaking up when it was time to request a new story. Maybe they were too tired to complain, or maybe they just needed the reassurance of a friendly voice. It had been a long day, after all.

As he finished Little Red Riding Hood, Ford realized someone was watching them, just outside the door. He squinted at the door-frame. “Stanley?”

“Haha, whoops!” said Stan. “Just um, forgot where the bathrooms were for a second! ‘Scuse me.” He shut the door and bolted away.

Ford stood up. “Do you kids mind if I take a break?”

“Go right ahead,” answered Dipper groggily.

Mabel nodded. “Tell us Hansel and Gretel when you get back!” she called out as Ford left.

Ford found Stan sitting on the floor of the living room, looking at Mabel’s scrapbook with Waddles. “You alright, Stanley?” he asked.

Stan let out a little nervous laugh. “It’s fine! I just—didn’t wanna interrupt your story, is all.”

“You weren’t causing any trouble.” Ford sat down on the floor with Stan. “Really, you could have joined us at any time.”

Stan looked away, sheepish. Ford noticed, then, that the scrapbook was upside-down. So he wasn’t really reading it. _Great._ If Stan was backsliding…

“Is it, uh, hard to do all that?” asked Stan, interrupting Ford from his thoughts. “Telling stories to me all day, and then telling ‘em to the kids all night, I mean.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, really,” Ford answered. “Helps keep my mind off things, at least.” Which was true. There was nothing like getting lost in a good story to ease your worries.

“Heh, nerd,” said Stan fondly. “That was Ma’s book you were reading, wasn’t it?”

Ford blinked. “What?”

“ _You know_ , that book of fairy tales Ma used to read to us.” Stan gave Ford a grumpy look. “Don’t tell me _you_ forgot.”

_Oh._ When they were very young, younger than Dipper and Mabel were now, their mother had read to them from a new edition of Grimm’s fairy tales every night. Ford could remember drifting off to sleep as his mother spun tale after tale. Eventually, he learned how to read from it, and he would read to Stanley by himself on the nights their parents were out of town. His mother used to pinch him on the cheek and tell him that _you’re growing up to be such a smart young man, Stanford!_ when she got home. He took the book with him as a memento when he took off from home to college, and from college to Gravity Falls.

“Is that why you were listening?” Ford asked his brother.

Stan looked flustered. “Well, I—that is, I—Um.”

“You know, I think I’ll tell one last story before I go to bed.” Ford smiled and held out his hand. “You should join us, Stanley.”

Stan looked at it like it was some beast that was going to bite him. “Alright,” he said, finally taking it.

* * *

Ford told the story of Hansel and Gretel, with his brother sitting on the floor in front of him, and Dipper and Mabel drifting off to sleep on either side of him. The world had almost ended a day ago, his brother hadn’t fully recovered yet, and the Shack was still a mess, but Ford found that he couldn’t be happier. As he told the tale, surrounded by his family, he felt more at home, here and now, than he had in over forty years.

“ _And they all lived happily ever after. The end._ ”


End file.
